UK, Australia, Canada sanction Israel’s Ben-Gvir, Smotrich for inciting violence

The United Kingdom, together with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway, have imposed sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, citing their repeated incitement of violence against Palestinians amid the Gaza war. 

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said Tuesday the measures, including asset freezes and travel bans, take effect immediately.

Smotrich serves as Israel’s finance minister, while Ben-Gvir, a West Bank settler, is the country’s national security minister. Both will have their assets frozen and be barred from traveling to the four countries.

Addressing parliament at the end of last month, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy described Smotrich’s May 6 calls to “purify Gaza” by expelling the enclave of Palestinians as “monstrous” and “dangerous” extremism. Smotrich also said that Palestinians will “leave in great numbers to third countries” and that the enclave would be “totally destroyed,” raising fears of ethnic cleansing. 

Lammy, along with his counterparts from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway, said in a joint statement Tuesday that the two Israeli ministers “have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights.”

The statement described their actions as unacceptable and reaffirmed the countries’ commitment to a two-state solution, a notion both Israeli ministers are against.

It also warned that the region’s long-term stability is “imperiled by extremist settler violence and settlement expansion.”

The British newspaper The Times reported the sanctions earlier Tuesday.

Speaking at the inauguration of a new settlement in the Hebron Hills, Smotrich expressed “contempt” for the sanctions.

“Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland, and we cannot [allow] it again. We are determined, God willing, to continue building,” he said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar decried the sanctions as “outrageous” and said that his administration would hold a special meeting early next week to decide how to respond to the “unacceptable decision.”

As of April 2025, extremist Israeli settlers have carried out more than 1,900 attacks on Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank since January 2024, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In its Tuesday statement announcing the sanctions, the FCDO called for an end to the rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

“Measures today cannot be seen in isolation from events in Gaza where Israel must uphold International Humanitarian Law,” the ministry added.

The statement announcing the sanctions said the five countries will continue to support Israel’s security and continue working with the Israeli government to achieve an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. 

“Hamas must release the hostages immediately, and there must be a path to a two-state solution with Hamas having no role in future governance,” the statement added.

However, the FCDO noted that the British government has consistently urged Israel — both publicly and privately — to halt the expansion of illegal settlements in Palestinian territory and take stronger action against settler violence.